US President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, Sept. 30, 2026.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
President Donald Trump said Monday evening that he and his political action committee will pay for controversial television ads that praised him, and which reportedly were funded from up to $20 million set aside by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The White House later clarified that the super PAC — MAGA Inc. — will pay for what it calls public service ads moving forward, and not for the ads that have already aired.
Trump’s announcement came after continued backlash to the ads, which have run in the weeks leading up to November’s midterm election. Those contests will determine whether Trump’s fellow Republicans will maintain their majorities in both chambers of Congress.
On Tuesday a new ad paid for by the U.S. government began airing. It features clips of Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discussing the U.S. capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro earlier this year.
“Nicolás Maduro had his chance … until he didn’t,” Hegseth says in the ad. “He effed around and he found out.”
Another clip shows Rubio warning, “Don’t play games with [President Trump] in office.”
The White House and MAGA Inc. did not immediately reply to CNBC’s requests for comment on whether the super PAC would cover the cost of the new ad or whether the buy had already been placed before Trump’s announcement and would remain taxpayer-funded.
Critics say the ads mirror Republican campaign talking points. Another ads features images of Trump saying “America will never be a communist country.”
“The Radical Left is upset with the fact that I am taking Ads, which I consider to be a positive promotion for our Great U.S.A., and paying for them with U.S.A. money,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Monday.
“This is a rather standard thing to do but, rather than doing that, although nothing will make them happy, I have decided to do the Patriotic Ads, among others, and pay for them myself, and with money I raised for MAGA, Inc.,” Trump said.
AdImpact has tracked roughly $9.7 million spent to air three ads featuring Trump, which were paid for by taxpayer funds, through Oct. 5. It’s unclear if the new ad Tuesday was paid for by MAGA Inc. or taxpayers.
Trump’s announcement came three days after The New York Times, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that “Trump personally instructed his budget director to use taxpayer money for TV ads praising him and his presidency.”
The Times said federal money to pay for the ads became available on Sept. 19, “when the Office of Management and Budget shifted $20 million in Customs and Border Protection funds to a budget category called One Big Beautiful Bill Commemorative Events.” Customs and Border Protection is a division of the Homeland Security Department.
Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., in a Sept. 24 letter to White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, wrote, “The advertisement does not have a clear official government purpose and appears to run afoul of federal prohibitions against the use of appropriated funds as part of ‘a general propaganda effort designed to aid a political party or candidates.'”
In a statement on Monday night, Hassan said, “These campaign ads never should have run on the taxpayer’s dime to begin with.”
“They were clearly wrong and clearly illegal, which is why the President should also immediately repay the taxpayers for the amount already spent on these ads,” Hassan said. “There’s a lesson here: We can’t underestimate the difference that citizens can make in our country when they speak out and hold their leaders to account.”
On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called for the Government Accountability Office and Office of Special Counsel to investigate the ads.
“The government is not the President’s campaign committee, and the Treasury is not his campaign account. The federal government has no legitimate business billing the public for campaign messaging that a candidate’s political committee should pay for,” Schumer wrote in a letter.
Last week, the advocacy group Public Citizen filed a complaint urging the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and TV broadcasters to stop airing the ads. Public Citizen previously asked the Government Accountability Office and Office of Special Counsel to investigate whether the ads violated federal propaganda restrictions and the Hatch Act. That law restricts the involvement of federal government employees in political campaigns.
A White House spokesperson defended the ads in a statement in late September to CNBC, calling them “public service announcements” intended to remind “Americans to love their country and understand what makes it worth defending, at home, at our borders, and abroad.”
“The ad is educational and unapologetically patriotic. We should be proud of our country,” the spokesperson said.
MAGA Inc. has raised $424.4 million and spent $32.4 million during the 2025-26 cycle through Aug. 31, leaving the Trump Super PAC with $415.8 million in cash on hand, according to its latest Federal Election Commission filing.
MAGA Inc. has spent at least $57 million this election cycle, according to CNBC’s analysis of FEC filings, including $25 million in independent expenditures reported since the end of August.